Originally broadcast as part of the BBC's Rude On Four season, seeking to "explode the national stereotype of Britain as a polite country of restraint and decorum", Rude Britannia charts the British tendency toward and history of biting satire, mockery, and a distinct lack of reverence for authority, from the early 1700s onwards.

From Hogarth and Tristram Shandy to Marie Lloyd, Spitting Image and Little Britain, this three-part documentary takes an often enlightening and occasionally shocking look at the real history of British humour.